(Minghui.org) An eight-year-old girl cried loudly in front of the Naxi District Court on January 10, 2014, calling for her mother, whom she had not seen for more than six months. Her mother, Ms. Zhou Bangqin, had been on trial for practicing Falun Gong.
The court planned to sentence Ms. Zhou from three to five years in prison. But Ms. Zhou's attorney strongly defended her rights of belief. The attorney said: “Practicing Falun Gong belongs to freedom of belief, and it is the basic rights of citizens. It does not break any laws in China.” Even the arrogant female judge became speechless. The trial went from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Ms. Zhou and two other practitioners who were on trial shouted “Falun Dafa is Good!” Other people who came to support them also stayed throughout the trial, and even the heavy rain did not make them leave. People shouted “Heaven will eliminate the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)” and “Falun Dafa is Good!” from time to time. The court session was adjourned.
Ms. Zhou was arrested on June 7, 2013, when she told people about how she benefited from the practice of Falun Gong. She went to a farmer's market in Naxi District, Luzhou City, Sichuan Province. She told people how she regained her health after practicing Falun Gong, and gave away DVDs of the Shen Yun Performing Arts shows. However, she was arrested by local police officers Li Jinlong and Ren Tianlun, and detained in the Naxi District Detention Center.
Her father went there several times, but was never allowed to see her. Her father-in-law was so devastated that he became ill again. Ms. Zhou Bangqin's husband is mentally impaired due to a brain injury, and her daughter has no one else to look after her.
Ms. Zhou Bangqin, 37, is from Chishui City, Guizhou Province. She started to suffer from rheumatoid arthritis when she was in fifth grade. Her limbs started to swell, followed by atrophy of her fingers. The symptoms spread to all her joints. Her parents carried her to all the hospitals in the area. Everyone told them that the disease had no cure. As the symptoms continued to develop, she had difficulties walking and showering. She had to take a kind of hormone before every shower. Every night, she was not able to sleep because of the pain. Her parents were often woken up by her crying. Finally, she was not even able to hold a rice bowl to feed herself.
More than ten years passed and Ms. Zhou grew up and became a disabled woman. Her limbs were distorted and she could not take care of herself in her daily life. When she was 25 years old, she felt agony and helplessness because she had to depend on her parents her whole life. There was a man, Dai Yunjia, in her village, who was mentally retarded because of a brain injury. His father was old and frequently got ill. Mr. Dai's family was poor, so it was difficult for them to find a wife for him. Someone matched him with Ms. Zhou and they married. The couple relied on Ms. Zhou's ideas and Mr. Dai's muscle to support themselves. They still had to rely on their parents for financial help.
When she was 29 years old, someone pitied her situation and told her that many people recovered from illnesses by practicing Falun Gong. Ms. Zhou started to practice it. As time went by, her physical condition became better and better. She was able to do housework and take care of her in-laws. Many other physical problems also disappeared. In the past, her husband had to carry her all the way to visit her parents. Since she started to practice Falun Gong, she was able to undertake the one to two hour walk to visit her parents. Later on, Ms. Zhou gave birth to a daughter who is now eight-years old.